Envelope



June 9, 1942. Q o, CLOUTlER 2,285,807

EN-VELOPE Filed Sept. 3, 1 940 IN VENTOR.

Patented June 9, 1942 ENVELOPE Gerald 0. Cloutier,

Old Colony Envelope Company,

Westfield, Mass., assigner to Westfield,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application September 3, 1940, Serial No. 355,174

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in s0- called duplex envelopes which are employed for the mailing of material under the lower-class postage rates.

As is commonly known, Government postal regulations will permit certain classes of mail to be transmitted in duplex envelopes if the latter are unsealed so as to permit inspection of the contents thereof. Accordingly a principal object of this invention is to provide a construction involving a plurality of envelopes assembled as a unit for simultaneous mailing but so arranged as to permit separation thereof in order that each may, if desired, be sent through the mails independently of the other.

According to the preferred form of my invention, there is a pair of envelopes of different sizes with the larger for carrying the name of the addressor and adapted to have associated therewith in a novel manner the smaller envelope. The latter may bear the name of the addressee so that when the unit is mailed, the same will go to the addressee as desired yet the addressors name is visible for purposes of return.

With the foregoing and various other novel features and advantages and other objects of my invention as will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more particularly pointed out in the claims hereunto annexed and more fully described and referred to in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front plan View of the envelope construction of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Referring now to the drawing more in detail, the invention will be fully described.

A relatively larger envelope is indicated generally by 2 and is preferably formed of a single sheet of foldable material folded to have the usual front and back walls 2 and 2" respectively joined together and a hinged closure flap. This is what I call the addressor envelope and it may bear on its front face suitable indicia 4, preferably consisting of the name and address of the addressor and some designation such as 6 to indicate the place for the third or fourth class postage.

A pair of substantially parallel slits B extend through the front wall of envelope 2 outside or beyond the zones covered by the indicia 4 and 6. The portions of the envelope which are adjacent Lib the outer or oppositely disposed sides of the slits may or may not be colored or otherwise rendered readily distinguishable so as to prominently indicate the slots which, as will presently be described, are for receiving the opposite end portions of the smaller envelope. g

If desired there may be a directionary legend, shown at Ill, on the front wall of the envelope 2 to call attention to the smaller envelope which is shown at I2. The latter is for carrying a letter orV other first-class mail which requires, under the postal regulations, a higher rate of postage than does the material in the larger envelope.

The envelope I2 bears the name and address of the addressee and may be of any conventional Construction although it is of such a size that its end portions may be received or fitted into the slots 3, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. The said addressee envelope I2 is adapted to receive any designation I4 indicating the name and address of the addressee and, as will be obvious, such is exposed to view when the envelope I2 is in proper relation with respect to the front wall of the envelope 2.

Said front wall of member 2 is formed to have slits IB beyond slots 8 to provide what I call tabs or flaps I8. These parts are intended to lie beneath the end portions of the smaller envelope I2 and are therefore bendable or depressible downwardly or towards the back wall of envelope 2 to permit said ends of the envelope to be inserted thereunder.

Said slits I6 are of less transverse length than slots 8, their opposite ends being spaced inwardly of the opposite ends thereof although spaced outwardly therefrom as shown. In this way, when the addressee envelope I2 is inserted in the slots as described it is prevented from slipping or unwontedly shifting from either left or right as it would were the slits `I I5 and tabs I3 not provided.

The said flaps I8 may, if desired, bear such a legend as Press here, indicated by 20, to facilitate-use of the invention by indicating that when the smaller envelope is to be inserted in the larger one the tabs I8 may be urged downwardly out of the plane of the front wall of the member 2 and the smaller member I2 may be bowed upwardly to shorten its overall length and permit easy insertion of its ends into the slots 8 so that the same will overlie tabs I8 and, in the usual case, engage the ends of slits I6 which, in the preferred form are more or less semi-circular.

Manifestly the specic details of construction may be considerably varied from those herein shown and described without involving any departure from the principle of the invention or sacricing any of the advantages inherent therein. While I have described my invention in this specification in great detail and particularly with respect to the present preferred form thereof, it is not desired to be limited thereto since many changes and modifications may be made therein Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention may be embodied in other specic forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely as being illustrative and not as being restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all modications and variations as fall within the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appended claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What it is desired to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An envelope construction including relatively large and small envelopes comprising in combination, the large envelope having a front wall provided with substantially parallel spaced slits for receiving opposite end portions of the small envelope and other slits spaced outwardly from the rst-named slits forming tabs extending forwardly towards said rst-narned slits from hinge lines provided by their jointure with the said front wall, and being depressible relative to said front Wall, the said small envelope being disposed over the front wall of the large envelope with its end portions extending through said first-named slits and disposed beneath the said front wall whereby the main body thereof is exposed over said front wall between said rst-named slits and the endmost portions are exposed over said tabs While the end edges abut the jointure of said tabs and front wall so vas to be held against longitudinal shifting movements relative to the said front wall.

2. An envelope construction including relatively large and small envelopes comprising in combination, the large envelope having a front wall provided with substantially parallel spaced slits for receiving opposite end portions of the small envelope and. other slits spaced outwardly from the first-named slits arranged to form semicircular tabs extending forwardly towards said rst-named slits from their jointure with said front Wall forming hinge lines parallel to said rst-named slits so as to be depressible relative to said front wall, the said small envelope being disposed over the front wall of the large envelope with its end portions extending through said rst-named slits and disposed beneath the said front wall whereby the main body thereof is exposed over said front Wall between said firstnamed slits and the endmost portions and exposed over said tabs while the end edges abut the jointure of said tabs and front Wall so as to be held against longitudinal shifting movements relative to the said front wall.

GERALD O. CLOUTIER. 

